Black Sunday: Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley Live (1980) & Metallica Creeping Death/Jump in the Fire (1990)

Vinyl's great for many, many reasons. Not included among these is portability, hence the vast numbers of compact discs and, in recent years, digital files in my collection. Still, when sitting among your music and looking through the library, nothing beats the LP for hands-on satisfaction and art-drenched eye-candy. It's the extreme end of this spectrum that I'm stopping on for this Black Sunday, pulling a couple picture discs from favorites of my youth, both of which serve not only as optical originals but also catalogue rarities as well.

Black Sunday: Metallica - "So What (Live)" b/w "Through the Never (Live)" (2012)

I'm not usually one to pick up Metal Hammer's special editions. As an expensive import title, the regular magazine alone is a budget buster but I felt compelled to grab their Metallica 30th Anniversary Event special when Barnes & Noble had it on the shelf for $14.99, easily ten dollars less than I have seen the same issue for sale in independent record stores. Like many ages-old Metallica fans, I have mixed feelings about the current band and their recent output but I cannot deny that the four-night series of 30th Anniversary concerts from late in 2011 at the Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco is something I would have given about anything to attend. Until their marketing machine releases the inevitable DVD/CD collection of the whole affair, this package, complete with a massive Metallica-drenched magazine and an exclusive 45, is a pretty neat set.

The wax itself is a nice enough 7". "So What," from the December 9 show, features progenitor Animal from the Anti-Nowhere League and flipside "Through the Never," originally on Metallica, is culled from the December 10 set. The sleeve itself is heavy cardstock similar to that that envelops the entire package. The vinyl has a UK-style breakout center and song titles etched into the run-off matrices.

The record is supposed to be the extra here, second to the magazine, and feels as such. The magazine itself, a collaboration between Metal Hammer and Metallica's So What! fan club publication, is magnificent, weighing in at 130 largely fluff-free pages. This publication rivals many tour programmes and is packed with photos, interviews, timelines and set lists from the entire week of the concerts. It's literally several hours' worth of reading, cover to cover, and, even for the Metalli-jaded such as myself, compelling stuff.

All in all, a really nice package, no piece alone necessarily worth the inflated prices I've seen; but as a set - especially at fifteen bucks - one of the neatest souvenirs you can find from an event most of us never got to experience.

We're Through. Breaking Up with Bands.

For almost as long as I've been buying records, I've been collecting my favorite bands in a completist fashion. There are plenty of fantastic solitary entries on my shelves but, more or less, if a single act has more than one record I love, I'll eventually get it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm just that interested in the entire story of a band I enjoy. And I generally weather through low points and lulls patiently, either waiting for future work to move me like the albums that drew me in to begin with. Even I have my limits, though, and, cleaning off my shelves this weekend, came across a few who no longer rate an automatic purchase of their latest product and have an overdue "Dear John" letter coming their way.

Dear Def Leppard: I've had it. The spark has never quite been the same since 1981. I know we had a few more good times through the 90's but it's apparent I'm not your type anymore. First I thought you cared more about older women than me, then maybe just country girls but now it's become apparent that you only care for older, country women who shop at Wal-Mart. I don't know how you'll skew your next effort toward the Hoveround-driving, NASCAR-loving, Forever Lazy-wearing crowd but I'm sure you'll find a way - especially if Taylor Swift is involved. We're finished.

Lars, Kirk, James and someone else: We need to talk. I don't know if our relationship is beyond repair but it feels like we'll never get back on the right path. I tried to be patient and indulge you. I'll admit I even had fun experimenting but it just got too excessive. It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle and it's obvious that therapy isn't the solution for us. I appreciate that you tried to start over but it just feels like your heart isn't in it. Plus, I know you've been cheating. Don't deny it. Everyone's been laughing behind your back about that old cougar you've been seen with. I don't know if you're the table but sure as hell hope you can find the door.

Jerry: We both know this is long overdue. I really appreciate how you tried to spice things up by bringing someone new into the relationship and, for a while, it was OK again. Then they got sick of it, too. After your latest indiscretion I think it's safe to say, "It's not us, it's you."

Dave: I won't lie, you still deliver in the headphone department. You just say a hell of a lot of stupid shit. Ted: same goes for you. You're both on notice.

Beyond Magnetic - Metallica - 2011

I was pleased last week to, for the first time in a long time, stop in an honest-to-goodness music store and buy a new Metallica recording that I was actually interested in hearing. A late 2011 digital release that saw a physical CD release on January 31, 2012, Beyond Magnetic is really not new - nor is it in any way surprising. Comprised of four fan-oriented leftovers from Death Magnetic, Beyond Magnetic sounds like exactly that - similar sounding tracks that don't quite measure up to what actually made the record. While fans undoubtedly always hope for some hidden gem among such material, there's really none to be found here. In fact, all four tracks are kind of clunky, all overlong (all spanning seven to eight minutes each, keeping in line with much of the Death Magnetic material) and all feeling more like the studio workout sessions they are than finished B-side fodder.

"Hate Train" provides generic, albeit distinctly Metallica-ized, riffing as well as some admittedly excellent soloing from Kirk Hammett. Aside from that, there are just too many predictable tempo changes and straight up blah lyrical content to hold a listener's interest. "Just a Bullet Away" and "Hell and Back" follow the exact same template. "Rebel of Babylon" recalls pre-Black Album-era thrashage and is the one track I can see myself adding to the regular Metallica rotation (though, really, the lyric is so inane - is James asking for stigmata to kill him - and, if so, how? - or is he just asking to be killed and then crying out "Stigmata?").

On the upside, Hetfield is in fine form, vocally, and both he and Hammett's guitars dominate this EP. Ulrich's drumming is not his strongest and you have to make an effort to even hear Trujillo's bass. All in all, though, Beyond Magnetic is well worth five bucks for the curious in that it shows Metallica are excellent editors and works, somewhat, to remove the taste of Lulu from our mouths. If nothing else, Beyond Magnetic reminds me how much I actually enjoyed Death Magnetic and, as long as Lou Reed is not involved, has me kind of hankering for whatever Metallica may be cooking up next.

When Good Bands Do Bad Things

I guess I am a musical optimist. I look for the upside in some of rock's most reviled albums. Still, among my own collection there are some "experiments" I cannot justify, some sins I cannot forgive - and this comes from someone who owns more than one version of Metal Machine Music.

I started today working through Machine Head's discography. I'm excited for Unto the Locust and thought that, taken as a whole, their journey from there to here may make more sense as a musical arc. Until I got to The Burning Red. Essentially shelved since '99 it hasn't improved. It's gotten worse. A Korn facsimile five years after the trend had exploded, it fails on every level and nearly decimates the legitimacy of its predecessors in the process. Then enter the amazingly shittier Supercharger. Forget any "arc" - it's a fucking miracle these guys were able to right the ship and turn out Through the Ashes of Empires and The Blackening. 

In the Mood for a Little Music? Enjoying the Extended Play.

I love the EP. I don't know how you discern it from a "maxi-single" or a really short album other than, to me, it somehow defines itself with tracks not appearing on proper full-length LPs, no tracks considered as b-sides to any other included song and substantial enough in its content to stand alone as an entry in a band's catalogue. Whether it's a 7" or two, a 12" record or a single CD, there are several EPs on my shelf that hold their own against any other bands' grandest double-albums. A few of my favorites:

What's the Last Disc You Bought? - May 2011 Update

Following up on an early April post, my CD collection keeps expanding. I did finally give a listen to the HSAS Through the Fire and the verdict, sadly, is: sucked. Sucked and sold.  I have found myself to be a bigger fan of Mr. Hagar than I thought I was and have also been collecting his solo records and, for the most part, enjoying them a lot (all spurred on, again, by my Chickenfoot infatuation). That said, Through the Fire struck me a soulless, vacuous, overdubbed, prepackaged stadium rock. I have already gotten more than one argument from fellow fans that Chickenfoot is exactly the same but where I differ is this: Chickenfoot's music rocks.

So, where has my credit card taken me since April?  An update: